The Future of Application Development

Cloud computing and mobile technology are two of the hottest trends of the last few years. When it comes to mobile technologies, there are two ways to build an application, mobile cloud apps or native apps. Although there is a controversy brewing in the developer community as to which is better, the final word lies in the end hands of the users themselves.

Regardless of which technology users will ultimately side with, developers need to be in a constant learning path to adapt to the needs of the market. IT companies in Costa Rica have been at the forefront of this innovation trend for some time, making them an ideal choice for any business seeking to create a mobile app for their business.

Native Mobile Apps

A native app is designed to be installed directly on the mobile device, the app may come on the mobile device out of the box, or users can download it from an app store.

The main issue with native applications is that different versions need to be created depending on the type, and model of the mobile device as well as the operating system where they will run. Data associated with the app remains on the device which takes up space, although some native apps can store this data remotely and the app can access it as required.

One advantage of native apps is they may not require internet connectivity and because they can use device-specific hardware or software they instantly have access to the latest mobile technology.

Mobile Cloud Apps

These apps are very similar to Web-based applications since both run on external servers and require the use of a web browser to access the user interface (UI). Additionally, both are built to be able to run on multiple mobile devices as opposed to native apps. In view of protecting your data server decommissioning is available if required.

The main advantage of a mobile cloud app is that users don’t need to download it onto their devices, this serves to save space and resources on the mobile device as the application is running on a remote server. However, an internet connection is required to be able to access the UI.

These technologies are not mutually exclusive, and some companies choose to offer both a native and a cloud version of their application.

When it comes to choosing which type of application you should develop for your company there are some questions to ask, mainly:

How many mobile device platforms will you support?

Will the application need to use on-device hardware or software features such as GPS and camera?

What type of security will the app require? Will the app save sensitive data, such as business data or banking detail? It is better to keep sensitive data on a remote server, this way if the mobile device is lost or stolen that information won’t be lost or compromised.

What is the purpose of the app?

Budget is also a consideration when choosing to develop an application; native apps offer faster response times because everything is done from the mobile device, however, as we mentioned before, they require different development processed for each mobile development platform such as iOS and Android, which can elevate the cost of development and support.